1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for conveying articles from one location to one of a plurality of other locations in a large building. In particular, although not necessarily limited thereto, this invention may be used in a hospital to convey charts, slips, medicine, and other miscellaneous articles from a first location or department to a second designated location or department in the hospital.
2. Description of the Related Art
Copending U.S. Application No. 938,644 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,694 to Matsuo et al, and assigned to Toshiba K. K. was filed on Dec. 5, 1986, and discloses an apparatus for conveying carrier cases containing articles. This apparatus includes a main conveying path and a plurality of stations located along the main conveying path. The stations are spaced along the path. A subconveying mechanism extends laterally from the main conveying path at each station. The subconveying mechanism includes a receipt/delivery section and a subconveying section. Carrier cases which are transferred from a station to the receipt/delivery section are delivered by the subconveying section to a receipt section. Carrier cases which are placed in a supply section are delivered by the subconveying mechanism to the receipt/delivery section and are then transferred to the main conveying path.
The subconveying section includes a subconveying path with a pair of adjacent, vertically stretched conveyer belts. The supply section and the receipt section are adjacent to each other and are at one end of the pair of conveyer belts. One of the vertical conveyer belts conveys carrier cases downwardly from the receipt/delivery section to the receipt section while the other vertical conveyer belt conveys carrier cases upwardly from the supply section to the receipt/delivery section.
A lateral conveyer belt is provided orthogonally to the lower end portions of the vertical conveyer belts within a housing for the receipt section and the supply section. When the carrier cases arrive at the receipt section after descending down the first conveyer belt, the lateral conveyer belt conveys the carrier cases forwardly from the bottom of the subconveying section to the receipt section. If an operator places a carrier case in the supply section, the lateral conveying belt is reversed in order to convey the carrier cases backwardly toward the second vertical conveyer belt. The carrier case is transferred onto the vertical conveying belt which carries it upwardly to a position adjacent the receipt/delivery section. A transferring device pushes the carrier case onto the receipt/delivery section. The receipt/delivery section extends laterally and orthogonally to the vertical conveyer belts and is in the same plane as the main conveying path.
In the above described apparatus, there are no coupling means for coupling the receipt section to the supply section to automatically move the carrier cases between the two sections. Thus, carrier cases must be moved by an operator between the receipt section and the supply section. Furthermore, the apparatus has no provision for means to automatically open and close the carrier cases. There is also no provision for a storage section located between the receipt/delivery section and the subconveying section to provide for efficient exchange of carrier cases therebetween. Finally, the provision of the two parallel vertically stretched conveyer belts necessitates that the subconveyer path have a great width. In operation, the system space allocated may be limited and thus too great a width is undesirable.
Copending applications Ser. No. 716,170 filed on Mar. 26, 1985 now abandoned, continued as Ser. No. 009043 filed Jan. 27, 1987 now abandoned and continued as Ser. No. 250,986 filed Sept. 28, 1988 and now U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,054, and Ser. No. 822,235 filed Feb. 13, 1986now U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,813, relate to the carrier body for a linear motor. Ser. No. 716,201 filed Mar. 26, 1985, now Pat. No. 4,665,349, and Ser. No. 808,114 filed Dec. 12, 1985 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,346 relate to the velocity control of a linear motor. Ser. No. 828,992 filed Feb. 13, 1986 and continued as Ser. No. 166,385 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,537 relates to the rail system for the main conveying path. All of the above applications are to Matsuo and assigned to Toshiba K. K.
Copending application Ser. No. 025,767 filed Mar. 13, 1987 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,302, relates to a system for detecting the weight of the carrier body to control the velocity. This application is to Funane and is assigned to Toshiba K. K.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,805 to Matsuo et al also deals with a method of controlling a linear motor.